Special Projects Director

Job not on LinkedIn

🔥 15 hours ago

🇺🇸 United States – Remote

💵 $130k - $160k / year

⏰ Full Time

🔴 Lead

👔 Director

👻 Ghost score 0%

What it means: how likely this posting is sitting open without active hiring.How to read it: 60% or higher means we think this is a ghost. Lower scores are less of a worry.How we score it: age, reposts, open roles vs team size, how fast jobs close, and whether pay is listed.Fine print: an estimate from public data, not a judgment of the company. Real jobs can score high, so treat it as a hint, not a fact.

Apply Now

Find Similar Remote Jobs

Set Up Email Alert For New Jobs

📊 Check your resume score for this job

Improve your chances of getting an interview by checking your resume score before you apply.

Upload Resume

Rethink Priorities

WebsiteLinkedInAll Job Openings

51 - 200 employees

Founded 2018

💼 Consulting

🏥 Healthcare

📦 Logistics

Consulting • Healthcare • Logistics

Rethink Priorities is a think-and-do tank that conducts rigorous, data-driven research and implements projects to improve global well-being now and in the future. It evaluates and tests high-leverage interventions across areas such as animal welfare, global health and development, climate, and neglected issues, and offers consulting and special-project services to donors, nonprofits, policymakers, and researchers. The organization operates as nonprofit entities in the US and UK and focuses on empirical analysis, surveys, and actionable recommendations to maximize philanthropic and policy impact.

📋 Description

• Own the Special Projects Program’s overall strategy and roadmap • Decide which projects join, graduate, or spin off from fiscal sponsorship and build decision frameworks • Own the program’s value proposition and Theory of Change with RP leadership input • Evaluate the inbound project pipeline and proactively source new fiscally sponsored opportunities • Represent the program externally to prospective projects, funders, and peer fiscal sponsors • Explore new service lines, such as regranting structures • Establish a formal project risk assessment framework covering financial, employment, legal/reputational, and leadership risks • Serve as senior escalation point for HR, finance, and compliance matters • Create a project graduation framework and define spin-out milestones • Maintain a fair and sustainable fee model and track quarterly revenue against forecasts • Decide when to add capacity, future roles, and management layers as the program scales • Directly manage Special Project Managers through weekly 1:1s, performance feedback, coaching, and professional development • Monitor team capacity and wellbeing, handle skip-levels and interpersonal issues, and involve People & Culture when needed • Document and standardize onboarding, offboarding, financial reporting, and risk review processes • Set and track team OKRs • Maintain strong relationships with funders, project directors, and RP departments • Ensure project directors are satisfied with the support provided • Report to Chief Operations Officer Carolyn Footitt and collaborate with Finance and People & Culture colleagues • Travel approximately 3–4 times per year for conferences and team or company retreats

🎯 Requirements

• Professional-level English proficiency; all application materials must be submitted in English • Minimum commitment of 35 hours per week; preference for full-time, 40-hour candidates • Solid experience in an operations role, such as HR, legal, finance, or general operations • Working knowledge of US 501(c)(3) rules and how they shape organizational decisions • Familiarity with the effective altruism landscape and at least one RP cause area: AI safety/global catastrophic risk, animal welfare, or global health and development • Ability to get up to speed quickly in unfamiliar domains • People management experience, including managing managers across a scaling team • Project/program management experience for large, varied portfolios • Strong strategic thinking and systems evaluation • Judgment and decision-making skills, including risk identification and opportunity assessment • Business development and relationship management skills • Solution orientation and process improvement ability • Social perceptiveness and cultural competence in a remote, multi-country team • Adaptability and ability to seek expertise when needed • Clear written and verbal communication • Strong prioritization, attention to detail, self-direction, and ability to achieve an 80/20 understanding of unfamiliar topics quickly • Desired: familiarity with fiscal sponsorship, particularly Model A structures • Desired: financial forecasting, budgeting, and fee or pricing model design experience • Desired: knowledge of UK and US nonprofit and employment regulatory environments • Desired: experience with a PEO such as Justworks or an EOR such as Remote • Desired: experience with project management software such as Asana

🏖️ Benefits

• Flexible work hours and location • Comprehensive global benefits package, varying by country • Generous paid time off, including unlimited vacation, organization-wide breaks, unlimited personal/sick leave, and parental leave • Parental leave of 4–9 months, paid/unpaid • Technology stipend of $2,000 USD equivalent every 3 years for work and office equipment • AI tools budget of $40 USD equivalent monthly • Professional Development Budget of $5,000 USD per year • Workshops and training sessions • 10% of work time dedicated to professional and personal development • Paid work trips, including one annual all-staff Mega Team Retreat and relevant conferences • Virtual co-working spaces, including a private Rethink Priorities Focusmate group • RP Peer Support Program for New Employees • Paid skills assessment for candidates who progress • Collaborative leadership team and low administrative bureaucracy • Other benefits at the discretion of RP Leadership • Caring team that values respectful work relations and a healthy work-life balance